SMPlayer multiple window control
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 7:45 pmLet me preface all of this by saying I know nothing about coding, not for want of trying. So any attempt to walk me through making specific source-code changes would require a LOT of hand-holding. It would be faster and easier for a knowledgeable individual to make the necessary changes oneself.
I have built a new Win10 box for a local college planetarium to control up to four independent monitors and output up to four simultaneous video streams, one to each monitor (each monitor being a projector projecting onto a planetarium dome).
I used Win10 for the sake of familiarity for both students and faculty and for the broadest possible hardware and software support since I thought we might be asking it to perform some off-the-wall tasks. It's an Intel i7 system with 16 GB RAM. Video card is a Visiontek/ATI with 2 GB RAM and six mini-displayport outputs. It is not connected to a network.
SMPlayer does most of what we need very well. We can have four different player windows open, each playing a different mpeg video and sending that video in full screen to a specific monitor. We can have the four player windows open on a hidden reference monitor and go along the line and click play on each one in rapid succession, so they can be kept within a few seconds of synchronized (frame-accurate sync is not needed at this point but eventually will be). But I think you will agree this is a cumbersome and accident prone process.
What we need is the ability to "slave" these four windows to a single "master" controller, so that all four videos can be played, paused, reversed, returned to start, fullscreened, etc. SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Also, the ability to save that configuration of player windows, video files, and monitors onto the playlist to speed loading would be very useful.
On the other hand, if these features already exist as dos shell commands, then they would have to be written into a batch file that is relatively easy to edit and run. If such a batch file can provide the ability to use the various keyboard commands for all video playback functions in all playback windows then a tutorial would be most welcome.
Then again I might be asking for a lot more than I realize.
Thank you in advance
Kevin
I have built a new Win10 box for a local college planetarium to control up to four independent monitors and output up to four simultaneous video streams, one to each monitor (each monitor being a projector projecting onto a planetarium dome).
I used Win10 for the sake of familiarity for both students and faculty and for the broadest possible hardware and software support since I thought we might be asking it to perform some off-the-wall tasks. It's an Intel i7 system with 16 GB RAM. Video card is a Visiontek/ATI with 2 GB RAM and six mini-displayport outputs. It is not connected to a network.
SMPlayer does most of what we need very well. We can have four different player windows open, each playing a different mpeg video and sending that video in full screen to a specific monitor. We can have the four player windows open on a hidden reference monitor and go along the line and click play on each one in rapid succession, so they can be kept within a few seconds of synchronized (frame-accurate sync is not needed at this point but eventually will be). But I think you will agree this is a cumbersome and accident prone process.
What we need is the ability to "slave" these four windows to a single "master" controller, so that all four videos can be played, paused, reversed, returned to start, fullscreened, etc. SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Also, the ability to save that configuration of player windows, video files, and monitors onto the playlist to speed loading would be very useful.
On the other hand, if these features already exist as dos shell commands, then they would have to be written into a batch file that is relatively easy to edit and run. If such a batch file can provide the ability to use the various keyboard commands for all video playback functions in all playback windows then a tutorial would be most welcome.
Then again I might be asking for a lot more than I realize.
Thank you in advance
Kevin